falloutfandomcom-20200229-history
The Castle
}} The Castle, also known as Fort Independence,Dialogue from Preston Garvey is the former headquarters of the Minutemen in the Commonwealth in 2287. It is a possible settlement and can be reclaimed during the Taking Independence quest. It is located to the east of the Gwinnett restaurant and brewery. Background Before the Great War, it was known as Fort Independence. The Minutemen repurposed it as their headquarters in the Commonwealth until a colony of mirelurks forced them out in 2240Fallout 4 Vault Dweller's Survival Guide: "Historians have noted the original name for this settlement was Fort Independence, but the people of the Commonwealth now refer to it simply as the Castle. This place has a long and storied history; it is one of the first forts in America and predates the Revolutionary War. In recent times, it served as the base of operations for the Minutemen as they attempted (and failed) to establish a Provisional government. In 2240, the Castle was partly destroyed by gigantic Mirelurk, and most of the Minutemen leadership died. Still, it is generally agreed that the location could yet become an excellent base of operations for the Minutemen (and an exceptional settlement) if it can be reclaimed from the sea creatures. Note that the map information refers to interior corridors within the fortification walls." and took it as their nest. Preston Garvey asks the Sole Survivor to reclaim the Castle for a new generation of the Minutemen. Layout Fort Independence is a star fort, consisting of five triangular bastions connected by walls. The walls are hollow and contain most of the fort's infrastructure, with only the workshop and the Radio Freedom transmitter out in the courtyard and two ruined gun positions on the top of the wall. The northwest and southwest walls have been all but demolished, and a sizable hole punched in the south wall as well, cutting off the west bastion—which contains the Castle armory—from access excepting through the Castle tunnels. The north bastion contains the Castle kitchen; the east, the general's quarters and access to the Castle Tunnels; the southeast, the barracks. The southwest bastion is completely inaccessible. The Castle is initially occupied by a large group of mirelurks, and piles of mud studded with mirelurk egg clutches can be found all over the courtyard and all interior areas save the armory. Once the quest Taking Independence is completed, these will be cleared away and the fort made available for settlement. Inside the fort is a missile launcher and flamer, as well as a small amount of ammunition for each. Once settled, it comes with five free beds, a medic stand, chemistry workbench, starter lighting and electrical cable system, and an industrial water purifier good for 40 units of water should the player reintroduce power into the system. Inside the Armory is a cache of heavy weapons, a weapon and armor workbench, and three free laser turrets that can be stored or redeployed elsewhere using the workshop menu. Also present are the schematics for building the special artillery units. However, access to the Armory is impossible until the quest Old Guns is completed. Access to the Castle settlement is done from the south via the main gate, and enemies will attack from this direction; behind the gate is a small and highly defensible room, which combined with the Castle's high and easily repaired walls makes it one of the safest settlements in the Commonwealth. Notable loot * Guns and Bullets issue #8 - On the radio operator’s desk, in the middle of the Castle grounds, outside. * Fat Man - In the armory accessible during/after Old Guns. * Various laser musket upgrades in the armory. * Minutemen general's uniform - In the Castle tunnels during the quest Old Guns. * Minutemen general's hat - In the Castle tunnels during Old Guns. * Fusion core - In the charging slot of a generator, in the Castle tunnels during Old Guns. * The Last Minute - Sold by Ronnie Shaw after completing Old Guns. * A flamer along with a large amount of fuel can be found scattered throughout the Castle. ** Preston or any of the Minutemen may take the flamer when fighting against the mirelurks. * A missile launcher, along with some missiles scattered throughout the Castle. * Nuka grenade - On top of one of the shelves. * Bottle message #2 - Located near the south-southeastern star point by the water's edge. The submerged boat and the lootable steamer trunk for the objective is located just northwest of Spectacle Island. Notes * It is possible to clear out the Castle before the Minutemen retake it during Taking Independence. When Preston Garvey asks the Sole Survivor if the Minutemen are ready to take back the Castle, one has the option to say that they have already cleared the place out. ** The mess created by the mirelurks and the eggs (intact or smashed) will remain if the player takes this route. The Minutemen appear to clean up the mess once they arrive, although this may take some time to happen. Afterwards, it will be identical to the outcome of taking it with Minutemen aside from any goo piles that may have been caused by the mirelurk queen killing them with acid. * After gaining access to the workshop, the Castle will be partially cleaned up the next time the Survivor visits the settlement, provided they are away for a minimum time (12hrs?). Much of the overgrown vegetation will be gone, as well as some of the debris piles along the demolished walls. * The Castle's walls can be repaired effectively in build mode using shack foundations. However, this may cause a bug where enemies spawn inside the foundation blocks in some quests. * Unlike other settlements, settlers assigned to guard posts in the Castle will not be permanently posted at those guard posts; instead they patrol the Castle walls and stand watch at certain points, such as the entrances. This eliminates the need for multiple guard posts spread out around the Castle, as two guards will effectively cover all of it. * To open the way to the armory, the Sole Survivor must clear the rubble using the workshop in "Workshop Mode" and make their way through the castle tunnels to the other side. * The Castle already has an intricate electrical system, connect generators to the wiring and that should activate wall lights along the interior. There is a prefab water purifier that is connected to the wiring. * The built-in Castle radio, which broadcasts Radio Freedom, will attract more minutemen to the Castle; however, it appears to stop recruiting after the Castle has a total of 5 minutemen. * The Castle's minutemen cannot be assigned to all the same tasks as settlers (such as forming a supply line). There is one specifically assigned minuteman to handle the radio transmitter. His voice is the same as the broadcaster's on Radio Freedom. * Once connected to a power source, Radio Freedom will automatically begin broadcast from the Castle. However, this can be turned off by using the switch on the radio tower. Once the speakers are turned off, the only way to hear Radio Freedom will be to tune in on the Pip-Boy until you turn the speakers back on. ** The water purifier is hooked up to the sinks in the kitchen in the north bastion; drinking from these will not raise radiation levels. * If one is following the Minutemen main storyline, the Castle will be the site of several battles against the Institute and the Brotherhood of Steel. * During Defend the Castle, one can expect to find the enemies on the path south. * If used as a settlement and a player uses the increased settlement size exploit, the Castle can possibly produce over 1,000 water. * If one stores power armor inside the armory, Ronnie Shaw may enter it during times when the Castle is being attacked. * There are a couple of respawning loot sites: ** The diner outside the walls where the Minutemen gather before the assault to retake the Castle has an ammo box, a med box and three fragmentation mines that respawn. The ammo box and med box will contain different ammo types and chems each visit, but the three frag mines will always be present. ** Once the armory has been accessed, inside is a box on a shelf containing artillery smoke grenades and flares that respawn. * It is impossible to "take" the Castle before or after Taking Independence for the Nuka-World Raiders or turn it into a vassal settlement. Appearances The Castle appears only in Fallout 4. Behind the scenes * The Castle is based on Fort Independence, one of the oldest continuously occupied fortified defenses of the original English colonialists in the United States,cite note 2, Fort Independence (Massachusetts) - Wikipedia and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation The landmass Fort Independence is built upon is named Castle Island. * Towards the end of the Castle tunnels, near General McGann's body, is a crate of Amontillado wine. Opposite the wine is a skeleton seemingly entombed in a wall. This is a reference to Edgar Allen Poe's story The Cask of Amontillado, where the protagonist's enemy is lured into an underground vault, chained and then encased by a wall. The label of the Amontillado Bottle reads "Montressor, Amontillado, Bottled by: P. Edgar" is again a direct reference to the work of Poe and the protagonist, Montresor. ** While he was serving at Fort Independence, Poe noticed a gravestone in the fort's cemetery dedicated to Lt. Robert Massie, who died on Christmas Day in 1817 from a duel with Lt. Gustavus Drane. According to folklore, the soldiers lured Drane into the basement of the fort and walled him up alive. Although this story was never confirmed to be true two workmen supposedly discovered a skeleton shackled to the floor inside one of the walls while making repairs to the fort in 1905. Years later, Poe used this incident as inspiration for The Cask of Amontillado. * The small partially destroyed building to the west of the castle with the destroyed sign that's says "Ivan's" with a shamrock is actually based off the real life restaurant out side Fort Independence called "Sullivan's" with two shamrocks on each side of the name and has been outside Fort Independence since June 1951. Bugs * The Minuteman in charge of broadcasting Radio Freedom may complain (usually after starting the Old Guns quest) that the transmitter is not being powered, despite having power. This is accordingly due to the Minuteman becoming hostile to Sarge in the Castle tunnels and so should be able to be prevented by eliminating Sarge before Old Guns. Otherwise, this prevents use of Radio Freedom. * You can get into the armory without Ronnie Shaw and before Old Guns was started by walking up to the door and placing a fast-travel marker underneath. * Assigning guards to guard towers can be problematic, since they seem to follow a totally random patrol route to nonexistent guard towers that seem to already be in place when you take the Castle. * When building generators to power the beacon, the beacon will show the power requirement not being met regardless of how much power is being supplied to it and as a result, will not activate. ** This can usually be fixed by removing each generator, storing them, and replacing them. Gallery TheCastle-Ground-Fallout4.jpg|Courtyard TheCastle-Fallout4.jpg|Radio tower FO4 Bottle message - Predator Becomes Prey.jpg|Bottle message #2 TheCastle-RadioFreedom-Fallout4.jpg|Radio Freedom being broadcast TheCastle-General'sRoom-Fallout4.jpg|General's room TheCastle-Corridors-Fallout4.jpg|Corridor FO4 Castle Armory.jpg|Armory with Ronnie Shaw FO4 Castle Aerial.jpg|Aerial view FO4-GunsAndBullets-TheCastle.jpg|Location of Guns and Bullets magazine. Fort Independent.jpg|Fort Independence in present times in the real world Fo4 The Castle Art.png|The Castle concept art from The Art of Fallout 4 References Castle Category:Commonwealth Minutemen de:Die Burg es:El Castillo fr:Le Château nl:The Castle pl:Zamek ru:Замок uk:Замок zh:城堡